Community Food + Juice . Dinner Edition

I love Community Food + Juice for breakfast, but they also have a great vegan option for dinner. Their rice bowl is filled with brown rice, bean sprouts, carrots, cucumber, radicchio, peanuts, cilantro, mint, sesame lime dressing and marinated grilled tofu. It has such a great flavor and it's perfect for spring.

Mexican Radio

Until two weeks ago, it'd been awhile since I'd been to Mexican Radio in Nolita, and I wasn't vegan then so I wasn't sure how many options I'd have...

Luckily for me, they offer vegan crema and vegan cheese. I had the grilled vegetable tacos with all the vegan trimmings. They also offer tofu, seitan and all kinds of vegetable combinations. So good.

Peacefood Cafe . Union Square

When my parents were in town recently, we had dinner at Peacefood's new location near Union Square. It's a beautiful location with a bit more seating than their Upper West Side location.

We started with the Pan Seared Shanghai-Style Dumplings, filled with Chinese chives, shitake and wood ear mushrooms, marinated tofu, served with a ginger balsamic dipping sauce. These are so good and perfect to share.

We also partook in the Sushi Roll, walnut pate and vegetables served with jicama and carrots and topped with avocado. 

I had the Charlie Brown Rice, served with chili, lettuce, guacamole and tortilla crisps. I love the cool guacamole with the warm spicy chili, a great combination.

 Heath had the Penne Un-Chicken Parmesan, self explanatory, and absolutely delicious.

My mom had the Roasted Seasonal Squash, topped with roasted cauliflower and garlic, wild mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes.

My dad had the Roasted Japanese Pumpkin Sandwich with caramelized onions, ground walnuts, cashew cheese and greens. You can see my previous post on this sandwich here. 

And we all shared the Raw Cheesecake. I'm always a bit skeptical about raw desserts, but this cheesecake is beyond divine. It's topped with pistachios and the textures compliment each other so well.

(We also shared the Vanilla Cake, but it was devoured so quickly, I didn't get a picture. It's really that good).

Blossom Bakery

My mom and I stopped by Blossom Bakery a couple weekends ago and picked up some treats to take home.

Chocolate cream smooshed between adorable heart shaped cookies...

And chocolate croissants.

If you're in the neighborhood (Chelsea), stop by for cakes, croissants, brownies and cookies. Or if you're in the mood for savory, Blossom du Jour and Blossom are next door!

Candle Cafe West . Brunch

Ok...now onto brunch at Candle Cafe West...

We had the Vegetable Crepe with fresh herb aioli with a mesclun salad on the side,

The Nuevos Rancheros with spicy tempeh-potato hash, corn tortilla, guacamole, tofu sour cream, tomatillo salsa, 

Homestyle pancakes with strawberries, bananas and strawberry butter, served with ginger maple syrup,

Leave the gun, take the cannoli. This was my very first vegan cannoli and it was out of this world. Vanilla cream, vanilla ice cream, puff pastry, chocolate chips and hot fudge sauce.

And we also tried their Strawberry Rhubarb Pie a la mode - perfect for spring!

I cannot express how happy I am to have a Candle in my neighborhood. Good stuff.

Candle Cafe West Follow Up

My parents were in town last weekend, and we ate at Candle Cafe West twice. Once for dinner and once for Easter brunch. 

For dinner, I had the Pecan Crusted Tofu (or was it almond, I can't recall...). It was incredible, regardless - I don't know how they get the tofu to be so flavorful, but it was definitely some of the best tofu I've had. It was served with sauteed spinach, lentils and a really nice creamy, savory sauce. 

My dad had the Avocado Quinoa Salad, with quinoa, spring peas, grape tomatoes, cucumber, radish, avocado, pumpkin seeds, field greens and chipotle dressing. 

And my mom had the Grilled Asparagus Salad with wild mushrooms, chickpeas, grape tomatoes, olives, arugula and oregano-lemon vinaigrette. I did not snap a picture of this salad, but hopefully you get the idea! 

Everything was stellar, as expected. I'll have much more later in the week on Easter brunch! 

Probar Meal + Probar Core

Probar was kind enough to send me some of their latest creations to try...

Probar Meal - which comes in all kinds of flavors, like Oatmeal Raisin (shown below), Mint Chocolate, Superfruit Slam and Strawberry + Greens. I keep them at the office in case I don't have time to have a proper lunch. They're filled with Omegas (3 and 6) which I'm always trying to get more of...

The Probar Core is my favorite pre or post workout snack (I only eat half, and save the other half for my next workout). They come in Brownie Crisp, Cookie Dough, Mint Chocolate and Peanut Butter. I love that they contain chia + flax seeds. 

The Peanut Butter (pictured here) is my favorite.

If you order from Probar, use the code BLOGGER for 40% off your first order...woo hoo!

Nanoosh

Before seeing a movie last week, Heath and I stopped by Nanoosh for a bite. 

We shared the Hummus Plate with spicy sun dried tomatoes and pita bread. They have two types of sauces on each table, one red and one green, both very flavorful and a tad spicy. They're both really great paired with the hummus. We put both sauces on everything!

And we also shared farro sauteed with corn, sun dried tomatoes and herbs. I love farro...I'm hoping it will eventually reach quinoa status.

I really love this place, everything is so simple and super flavorful. They have three locations in the city.

Parmela Parmesan

I recently came across Parmela Parmesan style cheese and decided to make a Cacio e Pepe - pasta with olive oil, parmesan, lemon and lots of black pepper. My husband gets this often when we eat out and I am always jealous.

The Parmela adds a great flavor - I think nut cheeses are the best vegan cheeses. Paired with the lemon and pepper, it's so so good. It was my first time making this dish and it is super easy. It is very rich, and therefore best served with a light salad.

Here's the recipe I used (I subbed Earth Balance for the butter).

NYC Vegetarian Food Festival

Earlier this month, I attended the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival for the very first time. They started this event, just as I moved to Omaha a few years ago and I've never had the chance to come back for it.

I scored a VIP ticket for half off on Amazon Local Deals, and I'm so happy I did. The line was at least two hours long out the door when I arrived on Sunday. And honestly, I don't think I would have waited. 

Inside, cupcakes galore from Jerusalem Bakery (I can't seem to find their website anywhere online...)

Raw vegan ice cream from the Raw IceCream Company

Cookies from Dauphin Bakery

Faux Gras from The Regal Vegan

White Cheddar Puffs from Earth Balance (have you tried these yet? They're phenomenal!), strawberry cream cheese from Go Veggie (delicious!), granola bars, smoothies, juices, dehydrated fruit bites, faux meats, and on and on and on. It was all so good, and great to just sample your way through.

For actual eats, I had the Jamaican Jerk Empanada from V Spot (most on those here).

And a Strawberry Chocolate cupcake from Jerusalem Bakery.

I loved everything about this event. It was so much fun, all the people were so nice and the food could not have been better.